ELDER LOGAN CHASE VAN KATWYK
WEEK #28
12/29/14
no letter from logan - only photos
12/29/14
no letter from logan - only photos
12/25/14 - Laredo, TX North Zone picture - Logan in the back, the four sisters are (back left to right, front row l-r), sister cano, sister hemmingsen, sister sainsbury, sister crawford. logan's companion, E. Pulsipher, is on the front row between the two sisters. the elder at the end of that front row is E. Clark his district leader that wrote the email to me. both Pulsipher and Clark get transferred tomorrow.
WEEK #27
12/22/14
Hey hey!
My week was really pretty chill. We've been just doin the same old same old as usual haha but hey, I'm pumped to skype in a few days! :) woop woop! I don't wanna give away too much either so this'll be pretty short. But on Friday we went to Corpus and had a Christmas Conference with President. It was alot of fun with all the zones doing musical numbers and skits. Elder Clark put together a musical number from our zone and we played "Little Drummer Boy" Featuring Me on drums hahah We borrowed a Djembe from a member and I just used that. Elder Clark and another Elder played Guitar, Sister Sainbury on some shaker thing and then two sister and two elders sang. I took a video of it and it actually sounded super good! :) Then our skit was based off of The Grinch. The zone leaders ruined Christmas for all of us and destroyed our presents. But then they had a dream and this cow was showing parents making gifts for their kids on their missions and then they start feeling bad about what they did. My role in the skit was and Elder's mom during the dream making his sweater for him and Elder Clark was my husband hahaha everyone loved that part lol
So I will stop right there and wait till Christmas. Pumped to see you all! Keep on keepin on and I hope everything is everything!
Elder VanKatwyk
12/22/14
Hey hey!
My week was really pretty chill. We've been just doin the same old same old as usual haha but hey, I'm pumped to skype in a few days! :) woop woop! I don't wanna give away too much either so this'll be pretty short. But on Friday we went to Corpus and had a Christmas Conference with President. It was alot of fun with all the zones doing musical numbers and skits. Elder Clark put together a musical number from our zone and we played "Little Drummer Boy" Featuring Me on drums hahah We borrowed a Djembe from a member and I just used that. Elder Clark and another Elder played Guitar, Sister Sainbury on some shaker thing and then two sister and two elders sang. I took a video of it and it actually sounded super good! :) Then our skit was based off of The Grinch. The zone leaders ruined Christmas for all of us and destroyed our presents. But then they had a dream and this cow was showing parents making gifts for their kids on their missions and then they start feeling bad about what they did. My role in the skit was and Elder's mom during the dream making his sweater for him and Elder Clark was my husband hahaha everyone loved that part lol
So I will stop right there and wait till Christmas. Pumped to see you all! Keep on keepin on and I hope everything is everything!
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #26
12/15/14
Hey hey
whats good whats good!
1 pm my time on christmas sounds like it could work. I'll let my comp know and we'll plan accordingly to that. But sounds like everyone had a great week!
Isaac's baptism is next week!?!? Yoooooo congrats buddy!!! Super pumped! Too bad I can't be there but it's all good :)
My week has been good. I definitely learned a lot from our Zone Meetings, how the Lord works in our lives and about myself.
This past week, I've come to really appreciate and be grateful for my zone leaders. I always love zone meetings because I learn so much from them. As we had the Zone Meeting today, I had a little reflection on the work I've done and the efforts I've put in to building up Heavenly Fathers Kingdom here in Laredo. I realized that I've grown way more than I ever did in Alice, because of my Zone Leaders and the training they give us. And because of them, I've learned many, many different Gospel Principles, such as praying with power and relying on the Lord to find people who are prepared, and I've definitely grown more spiritually than I feel like I ever have. It's been said that once Laredo becomes a stake, they're going to build a temple here. As I've pondered on that, It's awesome to think that I'm here right now to help make that happen and it's made my efforts that much better because I'm not only blessing the lives of non-members but the members here also so they can have a local temple where it's more convenient for them to travel to.
I've also learned that when you're on your mission, you're able to see all of your weaknesses. Something that one my Zone Leaders said during a Zone Meeting was that the mission is where Heavenly Father shows you all your weaknesses so they can become strengths; facing and overcoming them. I guess one example I've seen of a weakness I have is that it's hard to talk to people I don't know and then we missionaries are supposed to just start a conversation right off the bat. I'll be honest, I really don't like doing that. And we all know, I never go out of my way to talk to somebody I don't know. And that I'm really quiet kid who's just there and likes to listen to others rather than talk. It's definitely been hard for me to get out of my shell but it's a weakness I'm trying to overcome and something I have to face. Along with that, I've realized that I'm a very good listener when people are talking and I can discern what they're thinking by the way they're sitting or how they react to something (thank goodness for all those books I read, and psychology :) must be a gift as well haha)
I guess another thing I've learned is I need to just balance out those attributes of being comfortable talking to people and listening. BUT, it has been getting better though. My listening skills and talking skills in Spanish have definitely improved and I'm able to converse with people if I can understand them :) The other day, we were at a meal appointment and there were two other companionship's there. When we were all leaving, I was saying goodbye to Brother Vega and he says "You're very quiet Elder" and I just said "Yaaa I'm trying to work on it though" and then he asks "Were you always like that?" and I said "Ya, I grew up with older siblings so they always did the talking and I just listened" and he just said "Oh ok" but then told me that he didn't mean it in a negative way. After he said that, I was kinda down and upset a little bit. Don't know really how to explain why but it's all good. But I've been praying for help in overcoming this weakness so we'll see what happens.
Anyways, Something I've also learned is that Elder Pulsipher and I can leave really good first impressions if people give us the chance to just converse with us. The other day, we talked to this spanish speaking Catholic woman, who was outside talking with her husband I think? and we just talked to her about things and got to know her. We asked where they lived and she said she lived in the house they were standing in front of, but the man lived in Nuevo Laredo (other side of the border). Then as we kept talking to her, she confessed and was like "Ya know guys I lied to you, he actually lives right here with me with 3 other friends" and we just laughed. So people lie to us all the time apparently, but once they get talking to us, they confess hahaha
My week was a learning and growing experience, as I've written, that I realized I never really talk about my struggles. Only the happy stuff haha Sot here's something. But everythings all good!! Just workin hard and seein what happens!
Super funny, I said a prayer in English yesterday night, and it was suuuuuuper weird because I really had to make a conscious effort and try really hard to speak English hahah
Hmmmm I guess a little something about the work here, we've had investigators come and go really quickly. We got dropped by two people on saturday right when we were working really hard to get people to come to church with us. The AP's called our ZL's and committed us to get 14 people to church yesterday. So we were calling and texting people like crazy. Like even calling people we didn't even know but we still had no one. But it's ok because there's still next week!
But yup that's my week! Glad everything is everything with all of you! Keep on keepin on! Love you all a lot. It's super weird not being home for Christmas but I'm pumped to skype and see all you!
Love you and pray for you all
Elder VanKatwyk
12/15/14
Hey hey
whats good whats good!
1 pm my time on christmas sounds like it could work. I'll let my comp know and we'll plan accordingly to that. But sounds like everyone had a great week!
Isaac's baptism is next week!?!? Yoooooo congrats buddy!!! Super pumped! Too bad I can't be there but it's all good :)
My week has been good. I definitely learned a lot from our Zone Meetings, how the Lord works in our lives and about myself.
This past week, I've come to really appreciate and be grateful for my zone leaders. I always love zone meetings because I learn so much from them. As we had the Zone Meeting today, I had a little reflection on the work I've done and the efforts I've put in to building up Heavenly Fathers Kingdom here in Laredo. I realized that I've grown way more than I ever did in Alice, because of my Zone Leaders and the training they give us. And because of them, I've learned many, many different Gospel Principles, such as praying with power and relying on the Lord to find people who are prepared, and I've definitely grown more spiritually than I feel like I ever have. It's been said that once Laredo becomes a stake, they're going to build a temple here. As I've pondered on that, It's awesome to think that I'm here right now to help make that happen and it's made my efforts that much better because I'm not only blessing the lives of non-members but the members here also so they can have a local temple where it's more convenient for them to travel to.
I've also learned that when you're on your mission, you're able to see all of your weaknesses. Something that one my Zone Leaders said during a Zone Meeting was that the mission is where Heavenly Father shows you all your weaknesses so they can become strengths; facing and overcoming them. I guess one example I've seen of a weakness I have is that it's hard to talk to people I don't know and then we missionaries are supposed to just start a conversation right off the bat. I'll be honest, I really don't like doing that. And we all know, I never go out of my way to talk to somebody I don't know. And that I'm really quiet kid who's just there and likes to listen to others rather than talk. It's definitely been hard for me to get out of my shell but it's a weakness I'm trying to overcome and something I have to face. Along with that, I've realized that I'm a very good listener when people are talking and I can discern what they're thinking by the way they're sitting or how they react to something (thank goodness for all those books I read, and psychology :) must be a gift as well haha)
I guess another thing I've learned is I need to just balance out those attributes of being comfortable talking to people and listening. BUT, it has been getting better though. My listening skills and talking skills in Spanish have definitely improved and I'm able to converse with people if I can understand them :) The other day, we were at a meal appointment and there were two other companionship's there. When we were all leaving, I was saying goodbye to Brother Vega and he says "You're very quiet Elder" and I just said "Yaaa I'm trying to work on it though" and then he asks "Were you always like that?" and I said "Ya, I grew up with older siblings so they always did the talking and I just listened" and he just said "Oh ok" but then told me that he didn't mean it in a negative way. After he said that, I was kinda down and upset a little bit. Don't know really how to explain why but it's all good. But I've been praying for help in overcoming this weakness so we'll see what happens.
Anyways, Something I've also learned is that Elder Pulsipher and I can leave really good first impressions if people give us the chance to just converse with us. The other day, we talked to this spanish speaking Catholic woman, who was outside talking with her husband I think? and we just talked to her about things and got to know her. We asked where they lived and she said she lived in the house they were standing in front of, but the man lived in Nuevo Laredo (other side of the border). Then as we kept talking to her, she confessed and was like "Ya know guys I lied to you, he actually lives right here with me with 3 other friends" and we just laughed. So people lie to us all the time apparently, but once they get talking to us, they confess hahaha
My week was a learning and growing experience, as I've written, that I realized I never really talk about my struggles. Only the happy stuff haha Sot here's something. But everythings all good!! Just workin hard and seein what happens!
Super funny, I said a prayer in English yesterday night, and it was suuuuuuper weird because I really had to make a conscious effort and try really hard to speak English hahah
Hmmmm I guess a little something about the work here, we've had investigators come and go really quickly. We got dropped by two people on saturday right when we were working really hard to get people to come to church with us. The AP's called our ZL's and committed us to get 14 people to church yesterday. So we were calling and texting people like crazy. Like even calling people we didn't even know but we still had no one. But it's ok because there's still next week!
But yup that's my week! Glad everything is everything with all of you! Keep on keepin on! Love you all a lot. It's super weird not being home for Christmas but I'm pumped to skype and see all you!
Love you and pray for you all
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #25
12/8/14
Hey hey hey!
Sounds like everyone had a steller week! Glad everyone is doin good! :) and glad to hear everyones events went awesome! Mine week wasn't too different. Just the same old thing. Well so an update on the christmas call, I can either call on the phone or skype on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so I guess we'll coordinate more about that next week. Can't wat also! The weather here is the same old same old lol cold and then warm and then freezing raining and windy. Just never decides on what it wants haha We do get up to bear our testimony. My comp got up yesterday to bear his in Spanish ward.
So here's a cool story. So on Saturday we were doing a District Blitz in the sisters area. Their area was pretty wealthy and Elder Pulsipher and I get the "poor" area. So we bike to this street to go contact some people for them and none of them opened the door for us, so we just decided to just walk down the street and go knock on some doors or something. Then we see this couple and their son working outside the yard and gardening. Long story short, they were super cool and we had a good religious conversation and an awesome lesson. Once we got talking about Joseph Smith and the first vision the wife says, "Oh that is sooooo true. Like I definitely believe that happened " and my comp and I were kinda struck, but then she shared with us an experience she had of how she had a dream and she saw two angels and one of them spoke to her. Normally when people give us that kinda story it's just like a "Oh whatever you're crazy", but her experience was definitely for real. I felt the spirit as she was sharing that experience with us. And then we started talking about the priesthood and she totally believed that too. So it was super cool experience with her. What was also cool is that she said she believes that we are called of God to spread the word and that she can see we walk with angels around us and have that love of Christ in us. I was just completely blown away when she said that haha It was a good experience for me because I realized how good of a listener I can be with people and how easy it is for me to connect with people and understand them. I was also grateful that we were able to help out the sister missionaries because I guess they've been really struggling with investigators. And they were also super happy when we told them we set a baptismal date for them :)
Something that was also cool happened on Friday. So to start, Fridays are always unique days for us. No idea why haha But we went to visit a Less Active, but they weren't there. So we decided to hit up some refferals. We go to this house and this older guy answered and says "Yes!" and we tried to introduce ourselves to him, but he just shook his head and said "bye" and slammed the door on us. So we just went on with our day contacting more houses. Then as we were gonna get on our bikes, the old guy comes out and says "hey I just wanna make ammends with you guys. I'm really sorry for how I was and the way I acted with you and I know it was rude. I was just watching and movie and I got impatient. So I just wanted to say I'm sorry". Elder Pulsipher and I were silent for like 5 seconds just staring at him cuz we were so flabbergasted hahah finally I was like "Oh naw it's ok. it's not a problem" hahah After that later on, we talk to this guy, and in our conversation he told us he lied to us about where he lived. THEN, we push this stalled car all the way from an intersection, to her home that was super far away hahah Pretty nutty day but it's was very unique haha
Well Glad everything is everything and I'm glad you're all doing well. Keep on keepin on :) And I'll talk to you all next week. love you lots and pray for you always
Elder VanKatwyk
12/8/14
Hey hey hey!
Sounds like everyone had a steller week! Glad everyone is doin good! :) and glad to hear everyones events went awesome! Mine week wasn't too different. Just the same old thing. Well so an update on the christmas call, I can either call on the phone or skype on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so I guess we'll coordinate more about that next week. Can't wat also! The weather here is the same old same old lol cold and then warm and then freezing raining and windy. Just never decides on what it wants haha We do get up to bear our testimony. My comp got up yesterday to bear his in Spanish ward.
So here's a cool story. So on Saturday we were doing a District Blitz in the sisters area. Their area was pretty wealthy and Elder Pulsipher and I get the "poor" area. So we bike to this street to go contact some people for them and none of them opened the door for us, so we just decided to just walk down the street and go knock on some doors or something. Then we see this couple and their son working outside the yard and gardening. Long story short, they were super cool and we had a good religious conversation and an awesome lesson. Once we got talking about Joseph Smith and the first vision the wife says, "Oh that is sooooo true. Like I definitely believe that happened " and my comp and I were kinda struck, but then she shared with us an experience she had of how she had a dream and she saw two angels and one of them spoke to her. Normally when people give us that kinda story it's just like a "Oh whatever you're crazy", but her experience was definitely for real. I felt the spirit as she was sharing that experience with us. And then we started talking about the priesthood and she totally believed that too. So it was super cool experience with her. What was also cool is that she said she believes that we are called of God to spread the word and that she can see we walk with angels around us and have that love of Christ in us. I was just completely blown away when she said that haha It was a good experience for me because I realized how good of a listener I can be with people and how easy it is for me to connect with people and understand them. I was also grateful that we were able to help out the sister missionaries because I guess they've been really struggling with investigators. And they were also super happy when we told them we set a baptismal date for them :)
Something that was also cool happened on Friday. So to start, Fridays are always unique days for us. No idea why haha But we went to visit a Less Active, but they weren't there. So we decided to hit up some refferals. We go to this house and this older guy answered and says "Yes!" and we tried to introduce ourselves to him, but he just shook his head and said "bye" and slammed the door on us. So we just went on with our day contacting more houses. Then as we were gonna get on our bikes, the old guy comes out and says "hey I just wanna make ammends with you guys. I'm really sorry for how I was and the way I acted with you and I know it was rude. I was just watching and movie and I got impatient. So I just wanted to say I'm sorry". Elder Pulsipher and I were silent for like 5 seconds just staring at him cuz we were so flabbergasted hahah finally I was like "Oh naw it's ok. it's not a problem" hahah After that later on, we talk to this guy, and in our conversation he told us he lied to us about where he lived. THEN, we push this stalled car all the way from an intersection, to her home that was super far away hahah Pretty nutty day but it's was very unique haha
Well Glad everything is everything and I'm glad you're all doing well. Keep on keepin on :) And I'll talk to you all next week. love you lots and pray for you always
Elder VanKatwyk
WEEK #24
12/1/14
Hey everybody!
So this week was a good week. Thanksgiving was good also. We had three dinner appointments and 2 were back to back. So I did good planning it and not over eating :) But ya it was good and I'm glad to hear you all had a good thanksgiving too :) Well, nothing much really happened last week. My zone did hit our baptism goal though! We got 9 baptisms when our goal was 8 :) Transfers are tomorrow and I am staying in Laredo with Elder Pulsipher (were both the first comp we've stayed with for more than one transfer) so we're both excited because we can continue working in this area because it's actually starting to go up hill for us.
We found 6 new investigators and set Baptismal dates like crazy. I guess you could say we were doing really good and working really hard this past week. OH! So on Saturday, we found this Muslim lady that just moved in from Bethlehem. I'll be completely honest, I have a whole new respect for Muslims because they (at least she was) very respectful and they enjoy learning other peoples religions and I'll be honest again, that was probably the best conversation I've had with some on my mission. We just talked about what we believe and I was mainly asking her about her culture and beliefs because of Dad being there. So it was super cool to gain a better insight of what Saudi Arabia is like and their culture. Then I asked if she had any questions about our religion and so we got talking about what we believe. It was super cool though because I was quoting scriptures from the bible. I always doubted my knowledge of the bible and the scriptures, but that whole experience made me think about something it says in my patriarchal blessing. Anyway, she was a very sweet lady and me and her got along really well. Like she said I was really funny and that we get along super well because I could understand her. Like what she was saying, the analogies she was using and all that. Super cool.
So I'll answer Dad's questions first:
So I'm not really sure what it means by "change in area assignment". We're still in our area, same branch and same everything. We did lose the investigator we worked really hard with. He told us that he was happy where he's at and that he doesn't want us coming by anymore but he appreciates what we do :( Del Norte is definitely smaller than Alice. Our area is only a little bit of the Northern part of Laredo. I guess you could say our area is like southern north Laredo haha
The Spanish is coming along really good. I've definitely seen improvement in the language. You could say that I'm at that point where I can't speak either English or Spanish right now haha because I won't remember how to say something in English and I won't know how to translate it in Spanish. But I love it though. I'm excited for when I finally get it down and I can understand people. And ya I'm definitely using Spanish alot more here. The members I feel like speak both English and Spanish or can understand English so it helps to practice with them.
Mom's questions:
The weather here is the usual. Freezing cold, then gets warm and humid, and then rains, etc. Basically like I said where I've probably had every single weather and mix of weather in the past couple weeks without there being snow haha.
About the Christmas box, you can send the same stuff to the other two elders, if you want to but you don't have to cuz they've gotten packages from their family and stuff. It was super funny, when I got my box and opened it, they were aaaalllll going crazy. I was sharing my popcorn with them, and I think I witnessed what vultures are like hahah they all went nuts over the popcorn. And Elder Pulsipher was like "How awesome is your mom!? You're mom is the best!!" hahah So thanks for the package mom :) :)
So I actually have no idea when the Christmas conference is, BUT, we get to skype home :) for 45 minutes I think. More on that later though. I'll keep you posted.
But ya that's my week. Glad to see everything is everything! Keep on keepin' on.
Love you all and pray for you all. Have a steller week!
Elder VanKatwyk
12/1/14
Hey everybody!
So this week was a good week. Thanksgiving was good also. We had three dinner appointments and 2 were back to back. So I did good planning it and not over eating :) But ya it was good and I'm glad to hear you all had a good thanksgiving too :) Well, nothing much really happened last week. My zone did hit our baptism goal though! We got 9 baptisms when our goal was 8 :) Transfers are tomorrow and I am staying in Laredo with Elder Pulsipher (were both the first comp we've stayed with for more than one transfer) so we're both excited because we can continue working in this area because it's actually starting to go up hill for us.
We found 6 new investigators and set Baptismal dates like crazy. I guess you could say we were doing really good and working really hard this past week. OH! So on Saturday, we found this Muslim lady that just moved in from Bethlehem. I'll be completely honest, I have a whole new respect for Muslims because they (at least she was) very respectful and they enjoy learning other peoples religions and I'll be honest again, that was probably the best conversation I've had with some on my mission. We just talked about what we believe and I was mainly asking her about her culture and beliefs because of Dad being there. So it was super cool to gain a better insight of what Saudi Arabia is like and their culture. Then I asked if she had any questions about our religion and so we got talking about what we believe. It was super cool though because I was quoting scriptures from the bible. I always doubted my knowledge of the bible and the scriptures, but that whole experience made me think about something it says in my patriarchal blessing. Anyway, she was a very sweet lady and me and her got along really well. Like she said I was really funny and that we get along super well because I could understand her. Like what she was saying, the analogies she was using and all that. Super cool.
So I'll answer Dad's questions first:
So I'm not really sure what it means by "change in area assignment". We're still in our area, same branch and same everything. We did lose the investigator we worked really hard with. He told us that he was happy where he's at and that he doesn't want us coming by anymore but he appreciates what we do :( Del Norte is definitely smaller than Alice. Our area is only a little bit of the Northern part of Laredo. I guess you could say our area is like southern north Laredo haha
The Spanish is coming along really good. I've definitely seen improvement in the language. You could say that I'm at that point where I can't speak either English or Spanish right now haha because I won't remember how to say something in English and I won't know how to translate it in Spanish. But I love it though. I'm excited for when I finally get it down and I can understand people. And ya I'm definitely using Spanish alot more here. The members I feel like speak both English and Spanish or can understand English so it helps to practice with them.
Mom's questions:
The weather here is the usual. Freezing cold, then gets warm and humid, and then rains, etc. Basically like I said where I've probably had every single weather and mix of weather in the past couple weeks without there being snow haha.
About the Christmas box, you can send the same stuff to the other two elders, if you want to but you don't have to cuz they've gotten packages from their family and stuff. It was super funny, when I got my box and opened it, they were aaaalllll going crazy. I was sharing my popcorn with them, and I think I witnessed what vultures are like hahah they all went nuts over the popcorn. And Elder Pulsipher was like "How awesome is your mom!? You're mom is the best!!" hahah So thanks for the package mom :) :)
So I actually have no idea when the Christmas conference is, BUT, we get to skype home :) for 45 minutes I think. More on that later though. I'll keep you posted.
But ya that's my week. Glad to see everything is everything! Keep on keepin' on.
Love you all and pray for you all. Have a steller week!
Elder VanKatwyk